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Pope's Visit To Latin America - May 2007; What can he expect to find there?
Topic Started: Saturday, 28. April 2007, 23:13 (966 Views)
Eve
Former Admin/Moderator
Joseph if the figure you gave for 2000 is right and the Vatican's figure for 2005 is right the numbers went up. I cannot say what figures are accurate,
Howdy Folks. Has anybody seen my husband lately?
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Joseph

True - that's why I added:-

"I agree that your figure may cast some doubt on the 74% quoted of year 2000, but there seems little doubt about the trend anyway - and it certainly leaves no room for complacencey, as the Pope's concern clearly demonstrates. "

Joseph
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Derekap
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An item in this week-end's Catholic Times says that 43% of the world's Catholics are in Latin America. The average ratio of priests to lay people is 1 per 7,000. Some communities in the Andes receive a visit from a priest only once a year.
Derekap
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PJD


They may go away; but will they come back?

They always come back!

PJD
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My source is the Tablet for those of you who may wish to consult other sources to verify or otherwise. This publication reviewed the Pope's visit in a number of different articles. Some points that leaped out at me: the Pope continued his more relaxed tone surprising those Brazilians who remembered him in his previous post. In particular he seemed to signal the Church's willingness to support the modern anti-poverty stance of the South American hierarchy, the successor to liberation theology. Crowds, while huge by most standards were well down on forecasts. The Pope disappointed some by not visiting more parishes and engaging more with the people. He followed Church protocol strictly at Mass by first greeting the clergy in hierarchical order before acknowledging the people which went down badly in some quarters. His homilies were judged to be very thoughtful and thought -provoking and his best popular touch was his oft repeated cry to the people "The Pope loves you!".
That's my version of the Tablet version anyway!

John
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The secular press reports today that there is an ongoing row about the Pope's address in Brazil where he said that the Spanish and Portuguese missionaries who arrived with the conquistadores found people who were "silently longing" for Christianity. This is being interpreted as a whitewash of the cruelty and oppression involved with these conquests. The Pope, as with Regensburg, has now issued a watered down commentary on these remarks but in his critics' eyes has not repudiated them.

No doubt there are poltical motives here. Hugo Chavez is foremost amongst the critics. On the other hand, it is dispiriting to see the Pope repeating intellectually bereft ideas like the " silently longing" idea.

John
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Quicunque vult

Pope Benedict may (and will) say things that are open to misinterpretation by a largely hostile secular media, but he has a formidable intellect, and does not say things that are "intellectually bereft".

Whatever our background or religious culture, we all long for Christ as the One who will restore us to the original state in which man and woman were first created, and to have the prospect of sharing in the Divine Life of God. This may be masked in the case of different religious cultures which do not yet have access to the Gospel, and therefore only have an embryonic grasp of the truth, or fully apparent to those of us who are fortunate to be Catholics with access to the Sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist which bring healing and the restoration of sanctifying grace.

QV
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Well said,QV.
KatyA
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It seems logical to me that if each and every one of us is created by God, then there must be a sort of inbuilt need to seek Him. We recognise that need for what it is, others give it some other explanation, but we all have that need for God. As St Augustine put it, "our hearts are ever restless until they rest in You."
Not very clear I'm afraid but I hope you can see what I'm getting at.
KatyA
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Anyone see this report
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/30/...pe-Passport.php

As a Head of State, would the Holy Father be entitled to diplomatic immunity?
KatyA
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Derekap
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KatyA sked:

"As a Head of State, does the Holy Father be entitled to diplomatic immunity?"

I would presume so but whether every country would respect it is another matter.
Derekap
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I wasn't sure whether to put this here, or in the "Married Priest" thread,or even to start a new thread Since the speech was made during the Pope's visit to Brazil it can go here and moved if it goes off in another direction. An interesting report on Pope Benedict's speeches can be found at

chiesa
I particularly liked the following

Quote:
 
3. Our ministry as Bishops thus impels us to discern God’s saving will and to devise a pastoral plan capable of training God’s People to recognize and embrace transcendent values, in fidelity to the Lord and to the Gospel.

Certainly the present is a difficult time for the Church, and many of her children are experiencing difficulty. Society is experiencing moments of worrying disorientation. The sanctity of marriage and the family are attacked with impunity, as concessions are made to forms of pressure which have a harmful effect on legislative processes; crimes against life are justified in the name of individual freedom and rights; attacks are made on the dignity of the human person; the plague of divorce and extra-marital unions is increasingly widespread.

Even more: when, within the Church herself, people start to question the value of the priestly commitment as a total entrustment to God through apostolic celibacy and as a total openness to the service of souls, and preference is given to ideological, political and even party issues, the structure of total consecration to God begins to lose its deepest meaning.


He goes on to discuss the particular situation in Brazil, but his comments apply to the universal Church.
KatyA
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